CANDICE DIAZ || Judge gives 'animal' mom 30-60 yrs prison for 4 yo girl's abuse, death | 'Burns all over her body and bruising' | Worst Child Death Case | ALS

Candice Diaz. Autographed Letter, Signed. Handwritten, Commercial #10 (4.125 × 9.5 envelope). Metroplex, MI. Pmk: November 20, 2023. Content unknown. SEALED.

This case arises out of the physical abuse and death of Gabby, a four-year-old child. Gabby's mother, Candice Diaz, met and began a romantic relationship with Brad when Gabby was approximately 18 months old. Diaz moved in with Brad into Brad's residence, while Gabby remained living with her maternal grandmother and occasionally visited Diaz. Brad and Diaz had another child together. Gabby was toilet-trained but had occasional toilet-related "accidents" while living with her maternal grandmother.

When Gabby was approximately four years old, she moved into Brad's residence with Brad, Diaz, and their child in order to begin preschool. After Gabby resided at Brad's residence for roughly four months, on January 1, 2018, Diaz called her maternal grandmother about 9:30 a.m. and informed her that Diaz went into the bathroom and found Gabby unresponsive. The maternal grandmother drove to Brad's residence and arrived about 30 minutes later to find Gabby unresponsive on the bathroom floor. Brad was attempting to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to Gabby. The maternal grandmother urged Diaz and Brad to call the police, and someone called 911.

When the responding police officers arrived at Brad's residence, Gabby remained unresponsive and there were no signs of life. The police officers noticed that Gabby had what appeared to be severe burns on portions of her feet, legs, buttocks, and arms. One of the officers asked, "how did she get all bloody?" Diaz replied that Gabby had been like that when Diaz woke up, and she did not know what Gabby had been up to all night. Diaz and Brad claimed that Gabby had been awake all night, and took a bath while Diaz cooked breakfast. Both alleged that when Diaz returned to the bathroom, she noticed Gabby had vomited and become submerged in the bathtub. Diaz and Brad expressed their belief Gabby drowned because attempts to provide CPR resulted in water spraying out of her body. When asked about the burns on Gabby's body, Brad disavowed any knowledge of their origins. The police officers and emergency responders administered CPR to Gabby. Diaz and Brad expressed the belief that Gabby had been "down" approximately half an hour in the water at that point. However, although Gabby's hair was damp, her body was not. Officers did not observe any water on the floor in the bathroom, nor did the adults appear to be wet.

Gabby and Diaz were transported by ambulance to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. A paramedic who rode in the ambulance did not observe any water in Gabby's throat or lungs while intubating Gabby. She also noted that Gabby's fingertips were not as "pruned" as typically occurred while taking a bath. Gabby was pronounced dead approximately two hours after her arrival at the hospital.

Later that day, a search warrant was obtained for Brad's residence. Brad was no longer present at that time. The search of Brad's residence uncovered chunks of skin and clumps of hair later identified as belonging to Gabby in the bathtub drain. A garbage bag with several pieces of bloody gauze, clumps of hair with blood stains, plastic gloves, an empty bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and boxes of topical ointment were found in the laundry room. The clumps of hair were found to have DNA belonging to Gabby, while Brad and Gabby's DNA was found on several pairs of the recovered gloves. There was no bedding in Gabby's bedroom, and the bed was leaned against the wall.

A few days later, a warrant for the arrest of Brad and Diaz was authorized. Authorities were unable to locate Brad and Diaz until they were found and arrested several days later in Lowndes County, Georgia. While driving with an officer in Lowndes County, Brad stated that "all of this was just a misunderstanding, and that they were on their way back to Michigan to turn themselves in to the U.S. Marshal's Office." Diaz and Brad were extradited back to Michigan. Diaz was originally a codefendant in this matter, but she was not involved in Brad's trial; she ultimately entered into a plea agreement and was convicted of first-degree child abuse and second-degree murder.

Brad and Diaz's cellular telephones and Facebook Messenger messages were obtained as part of the investigation. While Brad's cellular telephone had been manually factory reset, erasing its contents, investigating officers were able to obtain text messages exchanged between Diaz and Brad through Diaz's cellular telephone. These text messages, as well as several messages sent between Brad and other individuals through the Facebook Messenger application, were highlighted in the jury trial. The text and Facebook messages documented Brad's and Diaz's discussions regarding Gabby's toilet-related accidents in the home and their ensuing methods of discipline. These messages revealed, in part, that Brad repeatedly struck Gabby, frequently subjected her to cold baths, "shanked" her with a fork, forcefully scratched her back with his nails, hit her in the mouth, and gave her unprescribed Adderall.

After an autopsy, the cause of death was attributed to multiple inflicted injuries, including blunt force trauma, a fatal burn pattern, thermal injuries, and asphyxia injuries. Her body was described as "somewhat emaciated" and had indications of having been suffocated by a hand placed over her mouth and nose. Physical, medical, and dental neglect also contributed to Gabby's death. A toxicology report revealed the presence of caffeine and amphetamines. Furthermore, there was nothing characteristic of a death by drowning found in the autopsy. Gabby also exhibited a spectrum of injuries referred to as battered-child syndrome, second-degree scalding burns at various locations on her body, matted and lice-ridden hair with several contusions to her scalp, malnourishment, some degree of decay or necrosis in all of her teeth, numerous lacerations and other injuries in various stages of healing, and significant bruising, among other injuries. The pathologist who performed the autopsy opined that Gabby would have been in extreme pain from the burns, dental decay, and infliction of bruises and abrasions.ⁱ

VIDEO: Season 01: Episode 13: Candice Diaz & Brad Fields | https://youtu.be/X7Djqz4_Thg

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